Stephen H. Long Trail 1819 — 1820

Day 1: August 24th, 2008 Munich — Pittsburgh

This year I am flying with Lufthansa. Therefore I must be at the airport way earlier. The departure is already at 9am. This means that I have to leave home around 6am. My parents drive me to the terminal like all the years before. They also join me up to the security area. Then we must say good–bye for 6 weeks.

Security is this year more laborious because I have additionally a laptop with me. Also the telephoto lens looks very interesting for them and they even want to take a look through! But the test for explosives is not necessary this time. Next is the passport control and then the next check special for the USA.

There they check again the passport and also the entries for the US address. This time I was able to enter it already before online. This saves some time during check–in. It is supposed that this second check is also pretty quick. But for all passengers the system states a timeout. So the same happens for me. Nothing can be done for the next quarter of an hour. But at least I was able to catch a seat to get relief from my heavy carry–on. Lucky me I was pretty much in front of the waiting row…

Then it seams the passengers are all checked at a main office, because we all receive our passports back. Now we can continue to the second security check. Also there they check very precisely. This time they even get caught by my little microphone tripod because on the monitor it looked like a tube with fluid. In spite of everything, all this is finished pretty fast and I am able to proceed to my gate.

There I am finally able to start reading the instruction manual for my newly bought Nikon D80 digital camera. Due to all the hectic preparation work I had no chance to read through it before!

On time at 8:20am the boarding starts and I am even pretty much in front of the waiting. But as my usual luck runs today, there are issues with the lady in front of me. No progress in my line for the next couple of minutes. Then they ask her to step aside and the passengers can proceed again.

The plane is still pretty empty. But my neighbor is already in the plane. She is a nice and interesting lady, maybe around 60–70. She lives in Chicago and works for a foundation. She was born in Munich and one of her daughters lives in Murnau. Her son drove her to the airport today — or maybe we should say flew. These 130mph is nothing an American lady is used to.

But she misses most the mountains. Therefore her visit in Murnau was really great. And also another daughter lives at the Chiemsee. There she was also able to see the mountains. We really talk for a long time and I also tell her about my traveling.

Then the entertainment program starts. I am flying with a brand–new A340 which eventually has the monitor in the seat in front and where you can choose your own program — at least theoretically. But with my today’s luck I have got the seat with the defect monitor. Also a system reboot does not help — the only interesting thing is that I get an insight view of the technique behind the entertainment system: There is a Windows CE booting where data arrives serial. Then it continues via network in a 172.16.x.x subnet with TFTP. After this is finished, the Windows CE desktop starts. After all this is finished, the entertainment system starts eventually with the touchscreen as input device. Talking about touchscreen: Maybe I have to explain the lady in the seat behind me, that it is a touchscreen and not a press–screen. Every time when she enters something I have the impression she wants to implant the display right in my back…

Finally the meal arrives and with my usual today’s luck, something goes again wrong here. Instead of fork, knife and spoon I receive a fork and two spoons. Lucky me, Pasta can be eaten without a knife. And also the bread can be buttered with a spoon as well as taking a bite — and also the Camembert. So I don’t ask for a knife and let the flight attendances do their job.

Because I am not able to watch movies anyway and I only had 3 hours sleep last night due to preparation work and allergies, I will try to catch some sleep at the plane as an exception. All in all, the day today does not end before 10pm local time, because my 4pm flight to Pittsburgh was canceled. My new connecting flight departs in Chicago at 8pm.

My flight had a little delay when departing at 9:15am. But even with headwinds the pilot was able to catch up with this completely. On time just before noon local time we arrive in Chicago. I was even able to read through the whole manual for my camera. Originally I hoped to be able to get a nice shot from the Chicago Skyline. But we arrived not in a good position. In contrast, the landing was as smooth as never before. Only directly above the airport, we got some turbulences. But across the lake everything was completely smooth. But the landing itself was weird. I suddenly had extreme stabbing pain in the neck muscles and throat and the impression, everything is starting to burst in me. I assume it might be my allergies, but I am not sure.

During exit I try to slow down as much as possible, because I am not able to board before 7pm. But even when slowing down, I am pretty much in front of the waiting line. Only my backpack is pulling down tremendously on my shoulder with all my equipment. Including my laptop this is already around 26 pounds. With movie camera, tripod and photo this is even 40 pounds! There you really start to count the seconds until you are the next in row.

This time I have a very thoroughly immigration officer. Someone like him I haven’t had for a very long time. He asks me for the name of the person, who is living there, what I am doing, where I am traveling to and how much money I have with me. All in all these “typical” immigration questions, which I had to answer in the past but haven’t heard for a very long time. After I have left my finger prints of all fingers including a picture of myself, he wishes me a pleasant journey and I am allowed to proceed.

Now it’s time to find the correct luggage claim. After searching around for a while I find the monitors and after thinking about these information for a while I understand, where my luggage should arrive. However, It is not really correct, because the luggage for the people who have connecting flights arrives at the next belt. There is already my luggage circling around. As already said, I have plenty of time and therefore I take my time to collect everything.

Next stop is at the customs, which I pass without issues. Only the people in front of me have been pulled out. For the connecting flights they have an extra exit, as usual. There they receive your luggage and put on the belt again. I am really wondering if my suitcase is still closed and the luggage straps are still there, when I arrive in Pittsburgh.

But for now it’s time to proceed to Terminal 1. My backpack is still heavily pulling on my shoulder and I am glad when I eventually arrive at the security again. Of course, my departing flights is not yet on the monitors. But instead I would have been able to catch the 1:40pm flight. But that doesn’t help now. You never know how much time you need at immigration and customs. And all in all, there can always be some delays and this long flight.

I walk now to my gate and hope, that my new flight will not be too far apart. But with my luck I must probably walk back from Gate C to Gate B. But instead I start first with writing my diaries. When I already have now a laptop with me, I don’t need to write my notes in the old Timesystem, but can put it directly on my laptop. This should save me a lot of time when I am back home.

Around a quarter past two I am finished and I think to myself, I will try, what I can do with the WiFi network around here. There is a hotspot available and after I have connected I even find a page with all flights. So I am not forced to walk over to the monitors to see where I must go. Instead I just boot my laptop around half past four and check where my flight will depart. This is really great if you have plenty of luggage like I have.

I read in my expedition book until half past four. While doing this, I almost felt asleep for a couple of times. Slowly I really need a bed and I am still not approaching my destination. I check the departing flights, but my flight is still not listed. Okay, boarding will be just past seven, departure will be at 7:35pm. So I have another half an hour to wait and continue to write on.

Eventually, around 5:20pm, my departure flight is listed. And the best is, that the flight will depart exactly at the gate where I occasionally picked my seat. Let’s see, if this is still the case within the next hour. In Chicago they always change the departing gates and do this pretty fast…

But this time the gate stays as it is. On time at 7pm the boarding starts. The plane is completely booked. I am glad when I arrive at my seat and I am able to close my eyes. The lack of sleep is slowly paying it’s toll and I have been almost already falling asleep at the airport before.

The departure is without any issues and I am exactly waking up, when the plane takes off. Unfortunately we are not departing from Chicago in a way, that I am able to take a picture of the Skyline. Therefore I close my eyes again and almost fell asleep once more. The flight attendance must talk to me a couple of times until I am able to realize him.

Then we continue to Pittsburgh, unfortunately without a chance for some nice shots. There was still no opportunity to test my new camera. Eventually we arrive in Pittsburgh and I drag myself to the luggage claim. First I call Helen to let her know, that I have arrived. She still needs some time until she arrives at the airport. Then I walk over to the luggage claim and wait for my luggage. I almost expect the worst. But then my trolly arrives. Then my suitcase shouldn’t be too far away. But this one takes a while until it eventually arrives. Then I walk outside. There I am allowed to watch how some policeman are arresting a guy. It seems like he had alcohol or drugs in his car.

After a bit more than half an hour, Helen arrives. Then we drive back home. During this drive I am really quiet, because I am extremely tired. Also I am still having issues with the landing, because I had the same pain like with the landing in Chicago. I really would like to know what this is.

Back home I make myself a sandwich. Then I fall dead tired in my bed…